I just got back from a one-day MovNat seminar in Toronto. Given what I had read on the web, I thought it was worth a shot. Overall, I have mixed feelings on how it went.
The best part of the seminar was the first couple hours. Erwan explained how natural movement is what we are designed for. The talk made sense and resonated with me. Just as with diet, the best bet is to mimic the patterns of our hunter-gatherer ancestors.
Over the course of a day, we went through the main movement capacities. Lunch was short and everything kept moving. The seminar ran long and there were still things that Erwan wanted to cover, but we ran out of time.
However, the seminar could be improved in a number of ways. First, there was no written material that was given out. Participants are left with only their memory, and there was a lot of information. Even a 5 page handout with some bullet points would have been nice.
Second, there was too much one-way communication. Erwan never had us introduce ourselves or asked much about our training backgrounds. It was mostly just Erwan talking for 8 hours straight. That gets old, no matter who is doing the talking. If the seminar was more interactive, it would be better.
Third, there was not as much individual attention as I would have liked. For example, after Erwan explained running technique, we ran as a group. Then he made a few general comments and we all ran again. Why not have each person run individually? It would have taken the same amount of time, and I think the participants would have benefited more.
Probably the biggest thing I got from this was an insight on mobility. I think that in the modern world, most people (myself included) do not have full joint mobility especially in the lower body. Without this mobility, you don't really have a base for natural movement. So while natural movement is optimal, most people probably need to improve their basic joint mobility first, and then progress to natural movement.
I thought that the information that was presented was valid. Ideally, this is something that should be taught in phys ed classes in the schools. It's probably much easier to learn correct movement patterns when you're younger. If everyone learned this stuff as children, then you would probably have many more active adults.
Overall, I thought this seminar was good, but not great. For the money and time I spent, I was somewhat disappointed. The good news is that once you possess the main principles, you really don't need any more coaching. As Erwan himself said, no one owns natural movement. I plan on pursuing joint mobility for a while, and then focus more on natural movement.